Jiang He was almost in tears: “My lord, I always thought you looked down on your subordinate, which is why you assigned me to monitor a little girl. Now I see I misunderstood you completely—this task is far more challenging than anything else!”

Jiang Yuanchao’s temples throbbed as he listened, very much wanting to tell his subordinate that he indeed had looked down on him.

However, the deeply shrewd Lord Shisan showed no emotion on his face, rubbing his temples and saying flatly, “Speak up. What foolish thing have you done this time?”

Jiang He felt extremely wronged: “My lord, this time it’s truly not your subordinate’s fault. The Miss Li you ordered me to monitor is simply a demon!”

“What demon?” Lord Shisan, who habitually wore a faint smile, was quite displeased to hear such words and rebuked lightly, “If you continue spouting nonsense, I’ll have you scrubbing toilets!”

That little girl might be a bit clever, a bit perceptive, and a bit unconventional in her actions, but she was just an ordinary young lady.

Jiang He didn’t dare act coy anymore and honestly said, “My lord, you don’t know—your subordinate discovered today that Miss Li went out again, visiting Minister Su’s residence—”

“Wait!” Jiang Yuanchao interrupted. “You said Miss Li went to Minister Su’s residence?”

“Yes!”

Jiang Yuanchao leaned back in his chair, his slender fingers lightly tapping the smooth, hard armrest.

Yesterday she had met with Minister of Rites Su He at the teahouse, and today she entered the Su residence gates. There must be a connection between these events.

In Jiang Yuanchao’s mind appeared the image of the young girl.

A thirteen or fourteen-year-old maiden, as green as a young poplar, yet her gaze when looking at people was always calm and indifferent, making one often forget her age. But occasionally she would say something startling, catching people completely off guard.

Such a girl—

Jiang Yuanchao couldn’t help but smile faintly and sigh softly, suddenly thinking of someone.

That little girl resembled her… somewhat.

Perhaps having long accepted the fact that she had become another man’s wife, and more importantly, having never thought they could be together, when she left, the heartache wasn’t heart-wrenching—nor did he have the right for it to be heart-wrenching—yet it lingered in his heart, enduring and unceasing.

“My lord?” Jiang He called out cautiously.

For some reason, his lord’s current expression made one inexplicably reluctant to look. It must be because he had failed in his duties, deeply disappointing the lord who had always carefully cultivated him.

Jiang Yuanchao came back to his senses, his eyes looking deeply at Jiang He.

Jiang He grinned: “My lord, don’t look at me like that. Your subordinate feels terrible seeing it. From now on, I promise to work hard and never make you sad again—”

Jiang Yuanchao pointed to the door: “Either discuss business or get out.”

“Yes, let’s discuss business then!” Jiang He immediately straightened his back and continued, “Miss Li entered Minister Su’s residence, so your subordinate disguised himself as a vendor selling candied hawthorns and stood outside the minister’s residence waiting and waiting, finally waiting for her to come out. I originally intended to continue following her, but before I could act, Miss Li was standing right in front of me!”

“And then?”

“Then she said, ‘Hey, young man, we met at Five Flavors Teahouse yesterday, didn’t we?’ Your subordinate refused to admit it, so she had her maid buy several candied hawthorn skewers, and before leaving, she reminded me that when selling candied hawthorns in the future, I shouldn’t blacken my face!”

“Pfft.” Hearing this, Jiang Yuanchao chuckled softly.

Jiang He stared in a daze, thinking to himself: Such a smile from my lord is truly rare.

Jiang Yuanchao restrained his smile and said flatly, “You may go.”

Jiang He was pleasantly surprised.

His lord hadn’t told him to scram, showing he wasn’t too disappointed with today’s performance after all.

Jiang He breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the door, hearing a sentence from behind: “Remember to scrub today’s toilets.”

Jiang He stumbled, steadying himself against the door frame as he left in embarrassment.

Jiang Yuanchao withdrew his gaze and smiled with curved lips.

It seemed that the little girl was somewhat angry—this was her way of slapping his subordinate’s face to remind him. What an extraordinarily clever girl. He wondered if she had already guessed he was from the Jinlin Guards?

Jiang Yuanchao suddenly felt some anticipation for their next meeting.

He would test her then.

In the octagonal pavilion of the Marquis Taining’s residence garden, the Zhu Yàn and Zhu Yán siblings were playing chess when a maid approached and presented a letter: “Miss, this is a letter from Miss Su of the Minister’s residence.”

Zhu Yán reached out to take the letter and smiled at Zhu Yàn: “Fifth Brother, let me tell you, though you can crush me every time we play chess, if you faced Luo Yi, it might not be so certain.”

Zhu Yàn raised his hand and gently tapped Zhu Yán’s forehead: “Don’t casually mention young ladies’ given names in front of men.”

Looking across the capital, if there was a girl who could beat him at chess, he could only think of one person.

Speaking of which, when the three of them had spent so much time with Miss Li, aside from knowing she was third in her family, they still didn’t know what her name was.

“So old-fashioned!” Zhu Yán stuck out her tongue and opened the letter. After scanning the contents, her eyes immediately showed surprise.

Though Zhu Yàn, sitting opposite, was curious about his sister’s expression, he maintained good manners and didn’t inquire. Instead, Zhu Yán spoke up voluntarily: “How strange! Luo Yi is inviting me to jointly recommend someone for admission to the Fushan Society.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yàn smiled.

Zhu Yán blinked and waved the letter: “Fifth Brother, guess who it is?”

Zhu Yàn’s heart stirred.

With his seventh sister speaking this way, what was there to guess? It must certainly be Miss Li. But thinking of how he had upset his sister last time, he still pretended not to know and asked with a smile, “Who? Fifth Brother can’t guess.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yán was quite satisfied.

She didn’t want her brother constantly keeping some young lady in his thoughts. This had nothing to do with whether that lady was good or bad—it mainly had to do with her mood.

Thinking of how the brother who had doted on her since childhood would soon marry a sister-in-law, she truly felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“It’s that Miss Li who was summoned by Master Wumei on Buddha’s Birthday. Fifth Brother, do you still remember?”

“No…”

Zhu Yán had lost interest in chess and murmured, “I want to see just how exceptional the chess skills of someone who could make Luo Yi completely convinced truly are.”

“By the way, when will your Fushan Society gather again? It seems like there’s been no activity for some time.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yán’s face showed some sadness: “Didn’t our society leader just pass away not long ago? Plus, with the coffins of the Northern Territories heroes entering the capital for burial, these activities have been temporarily suspended. We’ll wait a while before resuming.”

Over the next few days, Qiao Zhao’s life passed peacefully, while there were new developments on Shao Mingyuan’s side.

Shao Zhi returned dusty from Vice Escort Leader Lin Kun’s hometown at Yuanwei Escort Agency and reported to Shao Mingyuan: “General, your subordinate brought Lin Kun back with me.”

“What did you learn?”

Shao Zhi shook his head: “Lin Kun won’t say anything. He says he’ll only speak if he sees you.”

“See me?”

“Yes, he says he’ll only talk after seeing you.”

Hearing this, Shao Mingyuan showed no emotion and said flatly, “Arrange for him to wait for me at Chunfeng Tavern.”

Shao Zhi knew the General preferred not to handle many matters at the marquis residence, but thinking that Chunfeng Tavern was after all a place with people coming and going, he felt somewhat hesitant. Then he heard the General say lightly, “Don’t worry about arranging it. I bought Chunfeng Tavern.”

Shao Zhi: “…” Could you please not spend money so recklessly? We subordinates are still hoping for the General’s rewards to marry wives!